Spermatophytes (seed plants): Angiosperms (flowering plants): Eudicots: Core Eudicots: Asterids: Lamiids: Lamiales
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Pinguicula caerulea
FAMILY
Lentibulariaceae
Go to FSUS key
Dig deeper at SERNEC, a consortium of southeastern herbaria.
Pinguicula caerulea and P. lutea have essentially identical leaves, with each leaf averaging about 1-1.5 inches long and with strongly rolled in (curled) margins. Read more at Vascular Plants of North Carolina.
When an insect becomes stuck on a Buttersort leaf's sticky mucilage, the edge of the leaf slowly rolls over. When the insect is digested, the leaf edges unroll. Read more at the Botanical Society of America.
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Pinguicula caerulea
FAMILY
Lentibulariaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Pinguicula caerulea
SYNONYMOUS WITH Aquatic & Wetland Plants of Southeastern US (Godfrey & Wooten, 1979 & 1981)
Pinguicula caerulea
SYNONYMOUS WITH VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 170-01-003:
Pinguicula caerulea FAMILY Lentibulariaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Pinguicula caerulea
SYNONYMOUS WITH Andre Michaux
Pinguicula elatior
COMMON NAME:
Blue Butterwort
To see larger pictures, click or hover over the thumbnails.
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JK Marlow jkm0505s_19
May Williamsburg County SC
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JK Marlow jkm0505s_21
May Williamsburg County SC
Expanded upper portion of corolla markedly darker along the veins, per Weakley's Flora.
WEAKLEY'S FLORA OF THE SOUTHEASTERN US (4/24/22):
Pinguicula caerulea
FAMILY
Lentibulariaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
PLANTS NATIONAL DATABASE:
Pinguicula caerulea
FAMILY
Lentibulariaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Floristic Synthesis of North America. BONAP (Kartesz, 2021)
Pinguicula caerulea
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Aquatic & Wetland Plants of Southeastern US (Godfrey & Wooten, 1979 & 1981)
Pinguicula caerulea
SYNONYMOUS WITH
VASCULAR FLORA OF THE CAROLINAS (Radford, Ahles, & Bell, 1968) 170-01-003:
Pinguicula caerulea
FAMILY
Lentibulariaceae
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Manual of the Southeastern Flora (Small, 1933, 1938)
Pinguicula caerulea
SYNONYMOUS WITH
Andre Michaux
Pinguicula elatior
1939
Forb
Perennial
Habitat: pine savannas and wet pine flatwoods, mostly in the outer Coastal Plain, rarely extending inland to seepages and sandhill-pocosin ecotones in the fall-line Sandhills of NC and SC, per Weakley's Flora
Native to the Carolinas & Georgia
Uncommon in Coastal Plain
CLICK HERE to see a map, notes, and images from Weakley's Flora of the Southeastern US.
LEAVES:
Simple
Basal rosette
Leaves sessile
FLOWER:
Winter/Spring
Blue
Not symmetrical
5-lobed calyx (rarely 4-lobed)
2-lipped 5-lobed corolla
2 stamens
Superior ovary
Bisexual
Flowers solitary on leafless stalks
FRUIT:
Spring
Capsule
TO LEARN MORE about this plant, look it up in a good book!
- Atlantic Coastal Plain Wildflowers (Nelson, 2006) p065
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 1st ed. (Porcher & Rayner, 2001) p260
- Guide to the Wildflowers of SC, 2nd ed. (McMillan, Porcher, Rayner, & White; 2022) p365
- Field Guide to the Rare Plants of Georgia (Chafin, 2007) p265
- Wildflowers of the Atlantic Southeast (Cotterman, Waitt, & Weakley, 2019) p412
- Wildflowers of the Carolina Lowcountry (Porcher, 1995) p175
- Wild Flowers of NC, 2nd edition (Justice, Bell, & Lindsey, 2005) p233
- Field Guide to the Wildflowers of Georgia (Chafin, 2016) p246
- Wildflowers of the Sandhills Region (Sorrie, 2011) p214
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